If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I Thank God for Col. R.B. Thieme Jr.

Robert B. Thieme, Jr., pastor of Berachah Church from 1950-2003 and president of R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, passed through death into eternity Sunday, 16 August 2009 at 8:45 PM and is now “absent from the body and face to face with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8b). He was the beloved husband of Betty Beal Thieme and devoted father of Robert B. Thieme III. He is also survived by his sister, Ann T. Wallis, and his cousins, Fredericka Botts and Nancy N. Harder.

Bob was born on 1 April 1918. His father, Robert B. Thieme, and mother, Anna Cloakey Thieme, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana moved to Beverly Hills, California in 1926. Bob graduated from Beverly Hills High School in the summer of 1936, having lettered in football, track, and gymnastics. He was a member of the Beverly High Alumni Association.

Bob enrolled at the University of Arizona in Tucson in the fall of 1936 where he majored in classical Greek and joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After a distinguished college career, he graduated on 29 May 1940 magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He was also commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve.

With the goal of becoming a pastor, Bob was licensed to preach by the First Baptist Church of Tucson, Arizona on 5 June 1940. To further his ministerial preparation, he enrolled in Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas in 1940. After one semester, his seminary studies were interrupted by the impending entry of the United States into World War II.

On 3 April 1941 Lieutenant Thieme began active duty service in the Army Air Corps. Because of the nature of his assigned duties he received rapid promotion and by the end of the war had attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. LTC Thieme was the Director of Military Training for Flying Training Command. In this position he was charged with initiating, prescribing, and standardizing military training for all categories of personnel in the Aviation Cadet programs. His duties included coordinating training at 120 Army Air Corps installations throughout the United States and authoring publications that standardized this training. By 1943, he had written The Military Triad, Strategy and Tactics for The Aviation Cadet, and Get Smart, Mister. His final assignment was to supervise and direct the gunnery training at Harlingen Field, Texas. Bob returned to Dallas Seminary in 1946 to resume preparation for the ministry. The academic training he received in Greek, Hebrew, theology, history, and textual criticism became the foundation for a rigorous professional life of studying and teaching the Word of God. As a student, he became the interim pastor of Reinhardt Bible Church in Dallas, Texas. Upon graduating summa cum laude with a Master of Theology in May 1949, he continued to pastor at Reinhardt until April 1950.

For fifty-three years Robert B. Thieme, Jr., was the pastor of Berachah Church in Houston, Texas. As pastor he developed an innovative system of vocabulary, illustrations, and biblical categories designed to communicate the truths of God's Word. His scholarly, expository approach to teaching the Word of God and the worldwide distribution of his publications and biblical teachings without charge or obligation have made Pastor Robert B. Thieme, Jr., a major voice in Christianity today.

Thieme was indeed a most remarkable and formidable man of impressive accomplishments. Without doing personal disrespect, I would say that my estimate of his distinctive doctrines and their impact would not be positive.

Thieme was indeed a most remarkable and formidable man of impressive accomplishments. Without doing personal disrespect, I would say that my estimate of his distinctive doctrines and their impact would not be positive.

Dan, I knew when I posted this thread, that comments would certainly come. You commented in a respectful way and for this I thank you.

For me Bob's distinctive is in the overwhelming majority of his work. Like everyone, you and me included, if we had the world stage that he had, we'd have a few points of view that would get serious attack, gallons of ink, etc.

There will be those who will discredit his entire work for a few doctrines. There will be many who will thank God for the majority of his work, not getting exorcised over the R.B. Thieme hot buttons.

I think you would be overwhelmingly surprise at the world players that God used Bob Thieme's ministry to bring volumes and volumes of solid teaching. The names would be quite surprising, none of whom you could say "drank the punch."

Anyone want to flame Bob, go for it. The way in which you measure it out (Dan, no reference to you, like I said above, you were not disrespecfult) .... Walk in his shoes, to the level of planetary impact/influence that he had and then get back to me. Until then, enjoy the ministry God has given you. Pastor the flock that is among you.

I heard one or two of Thieme's tapes and I was intrigued, but disappointed with the foul language that came out of his mouth, which should never happen from anyone in the pulpit, (and I was even more suspicious when I heard him try to justify it), but, living in Houston for a couple of years during his heyday (circa 1980), I went to see him personally.

It only took the one time seeing him personally to confrim my overall suspicions. I did not go back, and I would never recommend him to anyone that wanted to find truth.

I remember that Paul discredited a few people in his day over a single issue, for truth mixed with error is infinitely more dangerous than plain falsehood, and there's no doubt about it, Thieme had a lot of good things to say mixed in with his false teachings.

With regard to "world impact", or whatever, there are multitudes of genuinely born again Christians whose names were never known outside of their infinitesimly small sphere of influence who will nevetheless receive FAR greater rewards from Jesus Christ than many of the notables of history in that day when all stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ, where the vast, vast majority of those who have had a "world impact" will be forgotten throughout eternity, and the little ones who were perhaps never known outside of their own village or community will be heralded and rewarded for their faithfulness world without end.

Transcendental Meditation and Yoga and a whole host of other things "help" people, but neither that nor a person's influence is a measure of truth.

Truth is found absolutely and dogmatically in the person of Jesus Christ and his Word, and nowhere else, and that is the touchstone upon which all truth is to be measured.

I Thank God for Col. R.B. Thieme Jr.

Confessions of a former taper. It too used to be a devout follower of R.B. Thieme Jr. I had hundreds of his reel to reel tapes. I copied down on yellow legal sized paper the whole content of his tapes to the tune of hundreds of pages while I served overseas in the service. I can fairly say that he allowed me to see facets of "so great a salvation" that I had not comprehended before. However, there were other aspects of his teaching that were false and have been exposed by discerning believers since. A deacon in my Church used one verse that convinced me that I was in doctrinal error (Hebrews 9:22). I had no argument for it and it turned me around in one point of time. I took all my reel to reel tapes and the hundreds of pages of notes and burned them in the garbage. It took me years to remove the arsenic from the doctrinal teaching that I was exposed to while under his ministry. It has motivated me wholly to examine for myself "what saith the Scriptures" I poured my whole being into studying Greek (6 Formal years) and Hebrew (4 formal years) and Aramaic (1 formal year) with over 25 years of post-graduate reading of the sacred text so that I would never again be taken in by false teaching based on the original text. I can honestly thank God for Col R.B. Thieme Jr. in that he has had such a negative impact on my life that has turned into something as positive as a never ending love and desire to study and know what the Scriptures really teach.

Confessions of a former taper. It too used to be a devout follower of R.B. Thieme Jr... I can honestly thank God for Col R.B. Thieme Jr. in that he has had such a negative impact on my life that has turned into something as positive as a never ending love and desire to study and know what the Scriptures really teach.

Thanks for that testimony, Clint. There are plenty like you, although I'm not sure anyone went to the extremes you did to get straightened out!

Perhaps God was really watching over me, because the night I went to hear him in person, everything I ever needed to hear came out in technicolor.

Thieme had a huge chalk board behind him, and on that chalk board he had drawn enough circles to represent several solar systems. Without going into the convoluted details, I heard him at one point assert that saying "G** d**n" was not sinful, that they were only words.

Of course, I realized instantly the application of such logic applied to the third commandment, not to mention all the others, as well as the rest of Scripture.

And that's just for starters. On the other hand, your testimony is a very fine example of the fact that truth mixed with error is far more dangerous than plain error, for Thieme had a lot of good things to say, but his erroneous material was, and still is, in my opinion, not merely heretical, but some of it downright blasphemous.

As I said, plenty of testimonies like yours are about, so once again, thanks for sharing it.